29th Annual ResMed: Residential School on Medicinal Chemistry and Biology in Drug Discovery

ResMed is co-sponsored by the ACS MEDI Division

29th Annual ResMed Meeting, June 7-12, 2015

The Residential School on Medicinal Chemistry and Biology in Drug Discovery is designed for chemists and biologists interested in broadening their understanding of the fundamental principles of drug discovery research and preclinical development. Scientists from related disciplines would also gain a clearer appreciation for the processes and methods important to drug discovery through clinical development.

About ResMed

ResMed: Residential School on Medicinal Chemistry and Biology in Drug Discovery is a week-long graduate level course organized to provide an accelerated program for medicinal chemists, biologists and other industrial and academic scientists who wish to broaden their knowledge of drug discovery and development. The School’s aim is to concentrate on the fundamentals that are useful in drug discovery spanning initial target validation through clinical development.

Most chemists and biologists have received little formal training in the range of subjects required for drug discovery. These topics include target selection, assay development, initial identification of active “hit” compounds, development of structure-activity relationships, lead optimization, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, metabolism, toxicology and clinical development.

Although drug discovery is an interdisciplinary subject, the course is more than a simple compendium of information. It will concentrate on the fundamental issues common to a wide range of therapeutic areas. The purpose of the School is to impart the basic principles needed by both chemists and biologists to pursue successful collaborative drug discovery programs.

The week-long course is structured around lectures and case histories that illustrate the discovery and development of recent successful drug discovery programs. There will be ample opportunity for questions and discussions with faculty members. The School not only provides an atmosphere of learning and understanding but also the opportunity to establish contacts with colleagues from many different organizations, which is an important component of a successful career in drug discovery. The ResMed Faculty is comprised of distinguished scientists from industry and academia with years of experience and success in drug discovery and development.

About Drew University

Drew’s hometown, Madison, is located 30 miles west of Midtown Manhattan in the rolling foothills of northern New Jersey. The university is situated on a beautiful, wooded 186-acre campus that gives Drew its powerful sense of place and helps to shape its character. A stimulating environment for living and learning, the campus is also home to The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, an independent professional theatre, and to the Charles A. Dana Research Center for Scientists Emeriti, which is housed in Drew’s Hall of Sciences.

The campus is a short 10-minute walk from the Madison train station, which provides direct access to the cultural, educational and professional offerings of Manhattan via New Jersey Transit’s Midtown Direct Service. The university takes advantage of its proximity to New York by integrating field trips and off-campus study opportunities into the curriculum.

In addition to the invaluable resources of Manhattan, the surrounding County of Morris also provides unique opportunities. Within minutes of Drew’s campus, for example, is one of the largest concentrations of corporate headquarters and research centers in the nation. Also located within a one hour radius of Drew are the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, the Jersey Shore, Meadowlands Sports Complex, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, and the ski resorts of the Pocono Mountains.

Madison, New Jersey, has a population of 16,000 and offers a vibrant downtown with convenient shopping, more than three dozen restaurants and a historic district, all within a short walk from campus. Neighboring Morristown is the home of Washington’s Revolutionary War Headquarters and the Morristown National Historic Park at Jockey Hollow.
By car, Drew is easily accessible from major interstate highways — 287, 78, and 95 — and well-marked local routes. Drew is served by Newark-Liberty International Airport, which is approximately 15 miles away.

Meet the Co-Chairs

Vincent P. Gullo

Vincent Gullo received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from the City College of New York and his Ph. D. degree in Organic Chemistry from Columbia University. With a strong background in natural products chemistry, Vince joined the Natural Products group at Merck Research Laboratories. There he worked on the isolation and structural elucidation of compounds from microbial sources found active in a variety of therapeutic areas, including antiinfectives, antiinflammatories, antiparasitic agents and cholesterol lowering drugs. Vince was a member of the team that discovered Primaxin, a broad spectrum antibiotic, Mevacor, the first cholesterol lowering agent (statin) and the anthelmintic, Ivermectin. In 1983, Vince moved to Schering Plough Research Laboratory where he led the Natural Products Research group as an Assistant Director. The natural products group at Schering Plough developed new therapeutic assays, isolated and fermented microorganisms, screened extracts for bioactivity and through bioassay guided fractionation, isolated and identified bioactive compounds. With the advent of high throughput screening and combinatorial chemistry, the natural product group was ideally suited to expand their role and became the department of New Lead Discovery at Schering Plough Research Institute (SPRI). Many compounds were progressed from drug discovery to the clinic at SPRI. In 2003 Vince moved from his Senior Director position at SPRI to become Vice President of Drug Discovery at Cetek Corporation. At Cetek the research team discovered two novel compounds for development, an anticancer compound and an antiviral compound. The anticancer compound was licensed to a large pharmaceutical company for further development. Vince is coauthor of over 80 research publications and co-inventor of over 20 patents. Vince received the Charles Porter Award from the Society for Industrial Microbiology in 2011. In 2007 Vince joined Drew University as a Research Fellow in the Research Institute for Scientists Emeriti (RISE). At Drew Vince enjoys working with students on the synthesis of novel antibacterial compounds.

William J. Greenlee

Bill Greenlee received his B.S. degree in chemistry at The Ohio State University and his Ph.D. degree from Harvard University. He was an NIH Posdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University before joining Merck Research Laboratories in Rahway, New Jersey. At Merck, Bill was a member of the team that discovered Merck’s antihypertensive drugs Vasotec and Prinivil. His group worked on other cardiovascular programs, including angiotensin II antagonists and endothelin antagonists. He was promoted to Director in 1989 and to Senior Director in 1992. In 1995, Bill joined Schering-Plough in Kenilworth, New Jersey as Senior Director, Cardiovascular and CNS Chemical Research, and was promoted to Vice President in 2002. During 15 years at Schering-Plough, he and his group advanced eleven drug candidates into clinical trials, including preladenant for treatment of Parkinson’s disease, vorapaxar for prevention of thrombosis and the BACE1 inhibitor MK-8931 for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (currently in Phase 2). Following the acquisition of Schering-Plough by Merck in 2009, he served as Chemistry Site Head in Kenilworth until August, 2010, and is now working as an independent medicinal chemistry consultant. Bill has contributed to the American Chemical Society and other chemistry-based organizations. He served as Chair and Program Chair for both the Medicinal Chemistry and Organic Chemistry Divisions of ACS. He is Perspectives Editor for the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, and serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters. Bill received the Alfred Burger Award in Medicinal Chemistry in 2004 and was inducted into the ACS Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame in 2006. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2007 and a Fellow of the ACS in 2009. He is coauthor of over 200 research publications and co-inventor of over 75 U.S. patents.

Ronald J. Doll

Ronald Doll received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH in 1969 and his Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry from Duke University in Durham, NC in 1975. He went on to complete a NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship at Columbia University in New York, NY. Ron joined Schering-Plough Research Institute in 1977 as a Research Medicinal Chemist. He spent most of his career in oncology research. Following his position as Research Medicinal Chemist, Ron was named Director of Chemical Research, Tumor Biology, and Infectious Diseases. He maintained his title after Merck’s purchase of Schering-Plough in 2009 and retired from Merck Research Laboratories in 2010. Since 2010, Ron has been a Fellow in the Research Institute for Scientist Emeriti (RISE) at Drew University. Ron’s research activities have led to seven compounds that entered clinical trials, most as anti-cancer agents. Ron’s current research at Drew University is in anti-cancer drug discovery of compoundsthat target mutant p53 in human tumors. Ron has co-authored 60 scientific publications and is co-inventor of 89 issued U.S. patents.